CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 23, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — An Enoch man was sentenced to prison for two drunk driving offenses less than a month apart while on probation for sexual solicitation in a grocery store.
Abelomar Perez de Ita, 25, was sentenced to up to five years in the Utah State Prison for two driving under the influence of alcohol convictions, the Iron County Attorney’s Office announced online.
He was previously ordered to serve up to five years in prison for sexual solicitation of a child, the prosecutors’ Monday press release said.
“The prison sentence was stayed due to a federal immigration detainer by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to the release. “It was anticipated that after serving a year in jail, Perez de Ita would be deported.
“However, upon his release, he was not taken into federal custody for deportation. Subsequently, Perez de Ita picked up the two new DUI offenses in a short span of time.” He had been released in late 2022 after the year in jail for solicitation, according to court records.
The two DUI offenses came on June 16 and July 6 of this year, according to court records, with Perez de Ita being arrested by Cedar City police first, then the Iron County Sheriff’s Office.
A 5th District Court judge ordered the new prison term to run consecutive to the original prison term for the 2021 solicitation charge.
It was one of three counts of solicitation, two dropped in a plea bargain, filed against Perez de Ita, for three incidents on the same day in an Enoch supermarket.
On June 12, 2021, he entered the store three different times offering three different female employees, one adult and two juveniles, money for sex.
Perez de Ita approached each woman with a translated message on his cell phone offering to pay the females $400 to $1,000 if they would have sex with him, according to his probable cause affidavit filed by Enoch police.
Perez de Ita, a Mexican national, declined to speak to officers after his Miranda warning was recited by an officer fluent in Spanish, according to the court documents.
But when informed he was being booked into jail he responded in English, “All this for asking a question?”
He was also charged with drunk driving after he was pulled over by Enoch police after his fourth visit to the store. The Utah Board of Pardons will determine exactly how long he will stay in prison. Another federal Immigration detainer has been placed on Perez de Ita by Immigration and Customs, the county attorney’s office said.
